Process of basting and removal of basting



United States Patent 3,311,928 PRUCESS 0F BASTING AND REMOVAL OF BASTING Peter J. Werth, In, Lexington, and Walter W. King, Winchester, Ky., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Solvex Corporation, Winchester, Ky., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Filed June 17, 1964, Ser. No. 375,931 3 Claims. (Cl. 2--243) This invention relates generally to the manufacture of clothing, and more particularly to an improved process for the removal of basting thread employed in the fabrication of such clothing and to the basting thread so employed.

In the traditional manufacture of clothing made of woven fabrics, certain preliminary operations are performed upon the fabric prior to the assembly of the garment, and as may be illustrated by the following description of the manufacture of coats for mens suits. Upon receipt of the bolt of fabric at the factory it customarily is inspected for defects and checked against the specifications as to color, weight, width, length, texture and pattern. Since woolen and many synthetic materials have a tendency to shrink, such materials are given a controlled shrinking or sponging treatment and after this treatment are dried and permitted to cure for a period of time. Subsequently the cured fabric is decated to set the fabric and after further inspection is moved to the cutting operation.

In connection with this cutting operation care must be exercised to avoid wastage of the fabric and at the same time to assure that all portions of a given suit will be the same shade of color. As will be understood, a coat may comprise about twenty separate pieces of the same fabric and the corresponding pants may comprise about ten separate pieces, not counting the trimmings which help to make up the garment and which comprise pockets, zippers, buttons, interlining, body lining, felts, tapes, binding, and findings. Therefore, during the cutting operation the patterns for the several parts are so positioned as to have all such given parts for a given suit cut from the same general area of the bolt of decated fabric and, when cut, these several parts for a given suit are ticketed as to shade in order to enable the workers to identify the proper relationship of these out parts when the garment is later sewn together.

After receiving its ticket identification each part is then placed in a bundle with corresponding parts for other suits thus to form a sub-assembly which is transported to the section of the factory where assembly of the garment is to take place. Such assembly of a garment involves the temporary attachment of one part to another and employing a basting thread which is sewn either by machine or by a hand-manipulated needle. In a conventional coat, for example, the separate operations of canvas basting, vent basting, turn-in bottom basting, edge basting, baste facings, baste linings, baste yoke, first armhole baste, armhole lining baste, collar edge baste, and under-collar baste, may all be employed. Approximately, 60 yards of basting thread may be used for fabricating a size 40 coat.

Traditionally, the basting thread is removed manually from the garment by means of small picks which are hand manipulated. Conventional basting thread is made of cotton which is bleached or unbleached and which thread is generally equivalent to the Dragon Carlyle or Empress threads available from the American Thread Company. The sizes of such thread usually are No. 40, No. 50, or No. 70; in two or three cord twist. Such a thread, moreover, must be capable of use on certain types of basting machines, when hand basting is not being employed. Among the common types of such machines are those 3,311,928 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 which provide for jump basting or random basting, and those which provide for chain basting in order to make a chain stitch such as used in the edge basting of flaps, collars, and coats. If the cotton thread has too great a tensile strength, it may damage the fabric when it is pulled out by hand and this is particularly true of light Weight fabrics such as employed in womens garments or in tropical worsted suiting. Conversely, if the thread has little tensile strength it may break and the worker removing the same may have to make repeated grasps in order to remove a single run of thread.

Furthermore, prior to the removal of the basting thread the incomplete garment is subjected to many stressings as during the manual lifting of the same, by manipulation into and out of sewing machines, by heat, and by contact with steam during pressing, shaping, and conditioning. During this handling, moreover, the garment is susceptible to contact with extraneous materials which lead to the ultimate need for inspection, spot cleaning, or complete dry cleaning prior to sale of the garment. Typical of this problem is the spattering of oil from sewing machines upon the garment, dropping of a garment upon a dirty floor, or spots caused by food or drink dropped on a garment by workers during a recess from their work.

It has been suggested that basting thread which can be decomposed by heat, or by aqueous solvents, may be employed in lieu of conventional cotton basting thread but, so far as we are aware, these proposals have not been successful in view of the problems inherent in the manufacture of clothing, as contrasted, for example, with the manufacture of lace, embroidery, hosiery, shirts, or the like. As will be obvious, the removal of basting threads by dissolution in strong alkalis or acids, such as caustic soda or sulphuric acid, is impractical for use with clothing in which stability of color of the fabric must be assured. By the same token, the use of Water soluble basting threads, such as various alginic fibres and plastics of the hydroxethyl cellulose ether type, is impractical when the presence of water will modify the shrinkage characteristics of the garment or will cause spots on the fabric being treated. In addition, removal of a basting thread by dissolving in water would in no way obviate the need of dry cleaning the garment when oil spots were present.

It has long been known that certain plastics are soluble in dry cleaning solvents and insoluble in water but this characteristic alone does not necessarily make such a material suitable as a basting thread. Many types of synthetic thread have a tendency to be wiry and to kink when fed through the various looping means, thread guides, tension springs, take-ups and needle eye on sewing machines. Wiry thread without an inherent flexibility suitable for sewing on such a machine tends to break when subjected to jerking. For example, a knot or kink in such thread will cause the thread to break when it reaches a small orifice or guide such as the needle eye, or the tension spring guide. Also a rough spot or burr on a mechanical part of the machine frequently causes the Synthetic thread to abrade and to break.

The tensile strength of the plastic thread being employed is related to the material of which it is composed, and in our invention also assumes importance in respect to the time required for the dissolution of the thread in the solvent. For example, if the thread is unduly thick it may require an inordinate length of time to dissolve, and also may have a strength greater than that required for basting work in which event it may damage the fabric during the sewing operation or may cause the pieces of fabric being held together to adopt a puckering or excessive fullness in certain areas.

On the other hand, excessively thin thread may not provide the sewability which is needed.

It is these and other problems confronting the manufacturer of clothing which it is a purpose of our invention to overcome. We now have discovered that if the basting thread, consistent with proper plastic material, tensile strength, and size, is primarily first chosen so as to be rapidly dissolvable in a dry cleaning solvent and to be relatively insoluble in water or steam, and if the removal of the basting thread forms the last step of the garment manufacture, an efiicient and economically feasible process of clothing manufacture results.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved process for manufacturing garments.

Another object is to provide an economical process for combined dry cleaning and basting thread removal phases of clothing manufacture.

Another object is to provide an improved process for removing basting thread from garments.

A further object is to provide an improved basting thread for use in the manufacture of garments.

Still a further object is to provide an improved process for manufacturing garments with a plastic basting thread.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following disclosure and examples of preferred procedures for carrying out the invention.

As illustrated by the following examples showing details of the application of some of the features of the invention, the garment is manufactured by conventional techniques while leaving all of the basting thread in situ. Thereafter, the garment is contacted with a dry cleaning solvent compatible with rapid dissolution of the plastic basting thread and for a period of time which results in the degree of dry cleaning which is judged appropriate for the garments. New garments normally do not require the conventional 15-30 minute dry cleaning period associated with worn garments, and it is a feature of our invention that the complete dissolution of the basting thread and the accomplishment of a satisfactory dry cleaning takes place jointly in a period of not more than about 15 minutes and normally in even a shorter period.

Moreover, the practice of the present invention may conveniently be coordinated with the treatment of the garment by means of anti-static preparation, creasing materials, water-proofing materials, stain resisting materials, moth-proofing agents, and the like. One or more of such anciliary treatments may be carried out simultaneously with the dissolution of the basting thread. After the garment has been in contact with the dry cleaning solvent for the appropriate time, it is then removed from such contact with both the solvent and the plastic dissolved in that solvent. Thereafter, the new and cleaned garment normally receives its final pressing or conditioning on conventional apparatus; is inspected; and delivered to the stock room.

EXAMPLE 1 Six sack coats for mens suits were fabricated from woolen fabric by following customary procedures except for use of a plastic basting thread as disclosed in Example 2 in place of the customary cotton basting thread. Eleven separate basting operations were conducted on each of the garments with the canvas basting, vent basting, facing basting, lining basting, yoke basting, and undercollar basting being performed on Singer Class 12W 221 and Class 12 W 211 machines operating at normal speeds. The first arm-hole basting and basting of arm-hole lining were conducted on Singer Class 12 WSV 26, 12 WSV 27, 12W 213, 12W 223 and 12 W 224 cylinder basting machines at normal speeds, and the collaredge baste, turn-in bottom, and edge basting were conducted on Singer 55-5, 452 kl, 410 W 11 chain basting machines and on a Union Special Class machine 6100 B, sewing at normal speeds.

All of the basting thread was left in place on the garments during the subsequent pressing, shaping, seaming, and stitching operations, and such thread maintained its fastening function while being subjected to handling and to steam throughout these subsequent operations.

The completed garment was then immersed in a tumbling bath of conventional dry cleaning solvent of perchloroethylene with normal detergent and moisture content for a period of eight minutes.

Upon removal of the garment from contact with the solvent and the plastic dissolved in that solvent, the garment was clean, no residue of the thread was observed, and the color of the garment has not been adversely affected.

EXAMPLE 2 A batch of ethyl cellulose available from Dow Chemical Company and bearing the trademark Ethocel No. 860MS was melt-extruded and formed into a mono-filament basting thread having a diameter of about 0.010 inch and a tensile strength of about 4500 pounds per square inch. The flexibility of the formed thread was somewhat less than that of cotton basting thread, but was not noticeably wiry. A portion of the thread was tested as to its solubility in water and after being immersed in a bath of water at F. for 24 hours no noticeable dissolution of the same occurred. Other portions of the same thread were immersed in four different dry cleaning solutions at 80 F. and all of such thread dissolved therein in the respective times indicated: carbon tetrachloride, four minutes; perchloroethylene, six minutes; 1,1,1-trichloroethane (chloroethane), four minutes; and methylene chloride, one minute.

EXAMPLE 3 A batch of polystyrene available from Koppers Chemical Company and bearing the trademark Dylene 20 was melt-extruded and formed into a mono-filament basting thread having a diameter of about 0.010 inch; a tensile strength of about 3500 pounds per square inch; and a flexural elastic modulus of about 350,000-425,000. Two pieces of woolen cloth were sewed together on a sewing machine using the polystyrene thread for the tests and when these fabrics were immersed in four different dry cleaning solutions at about 80 F. and comprising perchloroethylene; 1,1,1-trichloroethane; carbon tetrachloride; and methylene chloride, the threads in each instance dissolved in about 30 seconds.

EXAMPLE 4 A batch of polycarbonate available from Mobay Chemi cal Company and bearing the trademark Merlon was meltextruded and formed into a mono-filament basting thread having a diameter of about 0.010 inch and a tensile strength of about 8500 pounds per square inch. The flexibility of the formed thread was less than that of cotton basting thread and had the feel and appearance of being somewhat wiry. Two pieces of woolen cloth were sewed together on a sewing machine using the polycarbonate thread for the tests and when these fabrics were immersed in four different dry cleaning solvents at about 80 F. and comprising perchloroethylene; 1,1,1-trichloroethane; carbon tetrachloride; and methylene chloride, the threads dissolved in the trichloroethane in about one minute, in the methylene chloride in about 30 seconds, and were not soluble in perchloroethylene or carbon tetrachloride.

EXAMPLE 5 A batch of polystyrene-methylmethacrylate copolymer available from Dow Chemical Company and bearing the trademark Zerlon was formed as a two-filament basting thread with a diameter of about 0.010 inch; a tensile strength of about 9000 pounds per square inch; and a flexural modulus of about 510,000. Two pieces of woolen cloth were sewed together with a hand-manipulated needle using the thread for the tests and when these fabrics were immersed in four different dry cleaning solutions at about 80 F. all of the thread dissolved therein in the respective times indicated: perchloroethylene, five minutes; carbon tetrachloride, eight minutes; 1,1,1-trichloroethane, three and one-half minutes; and methylene chloride 30 seconds.

EXAMPLE 6 Seperate threads of various plastic materials having diameters of about 0.010 inch and comprising polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide (nylon), polyester (Dacron), polyvinylchloride and polyurethane were each immersed in baths of dry cleaning solvent comprising perchloroethylene for 30 minutes at a temperature of about 80 F. Upon removal from the solvent it was observed that substantially none of the thread had dissolved therein.

Although the foregoing examples disclose preferred materials comprising the respective basting thread and the dry cleaning solvent, it will be appreciated that in its broader aspects the invention is not limited to the materials set forth in those examples. Moreoyer, the basting thread need not be of the mono-filament type, but may be of the multi-filament or spun staple types. More than one type of plastic also may be incorporated into the multi-filament or spun staple types of such threads.

As used herein the terms ready solubility and lack of solubility are intended to signify a characteristic of the plastic thread (whether of the mono-filament, multifilament or spun staple types) Which when related to the diameter of the thread being used will enable such thread to dissolve completely in the dry cleaning solvent in not more than about 15 minutes and which will enable such thread to withstand dissolving in water or steam for prolonged periods of time, and as encountered in the manufacture of clothing. The terms flexibility, diameter and tensile strength, as used herein, are intended to define characteristics of a plastic basting thread which relate to the suitability, or non-suitability, for being sewn by machine needles or by hand-manipulated needles. In general, the plastic thread employed in a. hand-manipulated needle may possess less flexibility and less tensile strength than one which is sewn by a sewing machine. In either form of sewing the spool of plastic thread may be suitably lubricated to assist in the sewing operation and particularly when machine sewing is being carried out.

As used throughout this disclosure and when not other- Wise designated, the term plastic is employed in its commonly accepted sense as a generic name for organic substances which are mostly synthetic or semi-synthetic condensation or polymerization products and which under heat and pressure can be formed in the shape of a filament of thread.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. The process of treating a garment having sewn therein a plastic basting thread characterized by its ready solubility in dry cleaning solvents and its lack of solubility in steam and water and comprising, immersing said garment in a dry cleaning solvet for a sufiiciet time to dissolve said thread and simultaneously to dry clean said garment, and thereafter removing said garment from contact with said solvent and from the plastic material dissolved in said solvent.

2. In the manufacture of a garment, the steps comprising, basting portions of the uncompleted garment together by means of a plastic basting thread, thereafter completing the manufacture of said garment prior to removal of said basting thread, and subsequently removing said basting thread by dissolution thereof in a dry cleaning solvent in which said garment is immersed and simultaneously dry cleaned.

3. The process as defined in claim 2 wherein said dissolution is conducted in a chlorinated dry cleaning solvent of the Class consisting of carbon tetrachloride; perchloroethylene; 1,1,1-trichloroethylene; and methylene chloride.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,158,456 5/1939 Kaplan.

2,539,244 1/1951 Halden 112262 2,714,758 8/1955 Woodson 57l40 X 2,999,845 9/1961 Goldberg 161-183 X 3,069,406 12/1962 Newman et al. 161172 X 3,080,348 3/1963 Lang et al 260-86] 3,137,864 6/1964 Ostmann 2243 FRANK I. CGHEN, Primary Examiner. I. PETRAKES, Assistant Examiner.

73 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 5,311,928 Dated April 4,1967

Invmuwr(s) Peter J. Werth,Jr. and Walter W. King It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

r In line 4 of Claim 3:

1,1,l-tr1ohloroethylene should read 1,1,1-trich1oroethane Signed and Sealed this fifteenth D 0f June 1976 SE AL] RUTRC.MASON C.MARSRALLDANN Ammng Uffinr Commissioner nfPalem: and Trademarks 

1. THE PROCESS OF TREATING A GARMENT HAVING SEWN THEREIN A PLASTIC BASTING THREAD CHARACTERIZED BY ITS READY SOLUBILITY IN DRY CLEANING SOLVENTS, AND ITS LACK OF SOLUBILITY IN STEAM AND WATER AND COMPRISING, IMMERSING SAID GARMENT IN A DRY CLEANING SOLVENT FOR A SUFFICIET TIME TO DISSOLVE SAID THREAD AND SIMULTANEOUSLY TO DRY CLEAN SAID GARMENT, AND THEREAFTER REMOVING SAID GARMENT FORM CONTACT WITH SAID SOLVENT AND FROM THE PLASTIC MATERIAL DISSOLVED IN SAID SOLVENT. 